Improvement in machines for engraving rollers



UNITED STATES` PATENT OFFICE. I

VILLIAM SHIELDS, OF MANCHESTER, COUNTY OF LANCASTER, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR TO JOS. LOCKETT AND ROBERT LEAK, JR., OF SAME PLACE.

MPROVEMENT IN MACHINES FOR ENGRAVING ROLLERS, Soc.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. %S,332,dated May 15, 1860.

T0 all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that l, WILLIAM SHIELDs, late of Salford, but now of Cheetham, in the city of Manchester, in the county of Lancaster,

lrreat Britain, have invented certain new and useful. improvements in machinery or apparatus for tracing, transferring, and engraving or cutting designs preparatory to being etched on rollers or cylinders used for printing or embossing purposes; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying three sheets of drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon.

My invention refers to those machines in which a tracer is employed to be passed over the design to be copied and transferred onto a roller or cylinder, the motions of the tracer being followed by the roller or cylinder and an etching-instrument or a series of etchinginstruments.

The novelties of my invention refer to the mechanism employed for transmitting directly or reversed the movements of the tracer either equal, increased, or diminished in extent, as required, to the roller or cylinder, and the bar or bars carrying` the etchinginstruments; and the great advantage of Iny improvements consistsn the facilities they give by which the movements of the tracer may be modified, either in direction or extent, and transmitted to the roller or etching instruments.

Figure l is a longitudinal section and elevation of a machine constructed according to my improvements, and showing a cylinder or roller adapted for being operated upon by etchinginstruments Fig. 2 isa front elevation; and Fig. 3, a plan view, in all of which the same letters andV figures of reference where they occur denote the like parts.

The framework of the machine is shown at a, provided with a table ZJ, upon which is placed the design to be copied. The tracer c is jointed upon a rod or bar d, which rod or bar d passes freely through a bar forming a carriage e., and between surfaces secured to the said bar or carriage c, which act as guides to prevent lateral play The bar or carriage e also supports in centers a double anti-friction pulley e', (shown in Fig. 1,) which comes under flanges on the sides of the rod or bar cl, and thus assists to carry it.

This rod or bar d is secured to a cross-rail or riedb abar or carriage c su ortedb the` Y t J Y double anti-friction rollers g2, which run on the fixed rails g5, carried by the framing a. The bar or carriage e is also supported on double anti-friction rollers e2, (see Fi. 2,) which run on the fixed cross-rail e3, also carried bv the framing. It will now be seen that the tracer, rod, or bar d., is free` to hori- Zontal movements in the direction of its length or at right angles thereto, and that its end movements are facilitated by the double anti-friction pulley c and the double anti-friction rollers g2,wl1ile its lateral Inovements are facilitated by the double anti-friction rollers e2 and f carried, respectively, by the rails e3 and g. It will be also seen that the lateral or side movements of the rod or bar d do not aect the bars or carriage g', but that they act upon the bar or carriage e, upon the upper side of which a center or pivot e4 is formed, upon which a T-formed piece e5 is free to turn. This T-formed piece e5 grasps the side of a bar or lever e, so that there shall be no play or the least possible amount of play, but yet leaving the bar or lever e(i perfectly free to slide within the T-piece e6. This bar or lever e6 is carried by a stem c7 from a rail es, the stem eT having a broad flange at the bottom corresponding to one on the center or fulcrum of the lever or bar e6. These flanges are provided with concentric slots and set-screws, so that the lever or bar can be turned round and secured at any required angle to the bar or carriage e. The cross-rail es, to which the stem c7 is secured, is attached to two bars e9 forming another carriage, each bar e9 being supported by three double anti-friction rollers elo, which run on the fixed rails e, carried by the cross-stays a of the framing, and upon the moving bars plates cl2, of steel or other suitable material, are fixed, upon which either 4the ends of the roller A or suitable disks A', (shown in Figs. l and 3,) secured to the axis of the roller, rest. The axis of the roller passes through bearings A2, which prevent end movement in the roller, but are perfectly free vertically in the jaws formed by the framing. t will thus be seen that as the roller A is free to rotate all movements applied to the bars or carriage e9 will give rotatory motion to the roller. In other words, all lateral movements of the tracer give rotatory movement to the roller A.

The etching-instruments are mounted on af bar orv carriage h placed parallel to the aXis' of the roller. In the drawings I have placed two such bars or carriages h, so that etchinginstr-uments may be used on both sides of theroller; but I make no claim for duplicating 1 the said bars or carriages h. The bars or car-- riagesh are supported on double anti-friction rollers h', which run on the ixed cross-rails h2, which are carried by the framing. The ixed rails h2 have a clear slot between rthem to permit the free movement of the'stems h'which are secured to the bars or carriages h. These stems h3 carry levers or bars h4, arranged in 'a similar manner to the one e6, through which the side movements of the tracer e are imparted to the roller A. Each of these levers or bars h4 is connected with a T-piece h5, which is free to turn in a bracket h6, both brackets being secured to the cross-rail g, and thus the end movements of the rod or bar d are conveyed to the bars h, carrying the etchinginstruments, which may be of any ordinary arf. ra-ngement andv construction.

I have only shown the side view of two etching-instruments in Fig. l, and the front' View of one in Fig. 2. The number employed` (as is well known) depends upon the nature of the design.

Those etching-instruments which I have? shown consist ot a two-armed lever having its fulcrum inx a bracket adjustable on the bar or carriage h. The upper end of the vertical arm t" fis curved to the segment of lcircle and slotted so that the etching-instrument i2 can"` be adjusted. The horizontal arm 713 has af weight 'i4 lupon it to bring the point of thel etching-instrument t2 -with sufficient force against the roller A when it is permitted to do so. This arm i3 also carries a screw i5, thev point of which can be adjusted to the upper surfaceof the cross-bar 6, which is arranged' to sli'de free vertically, and projections on the lower parts of these cross-bars at each end rest upon rods 7, jointed at Aeach end to an arm is, centered on brackets vl, attached to the cross-stays a. The arm is at one end ot' the rod rFforms one arm of abell-crank lever, the other .arm being jointed to a vertical rod` @'10, the lower end of which is jointed. to ani` arm 11 from a cross-shaft 7112, carried by bearings in the framing, this shaft i12 havin-g two arms 1.13, to which a board *L14 is attached, so

that pressure may be conveniently applied ing-instruments or the roller by any motion given tol the tracer. r.Itis lonly when the 4levers or -barsare at anl angletol they positions mentioned that movements `.are `produced ywhich will be less or greater in extent. than that ofl the tracer, according .as thexangle or inclination of the barsy or leversis'less or greater than forty-tive degrees. It will also be understood. that when the inclination or angle of the bars or..y levers is reversed the motions given bythetracer will be reversed;

`'the table bsothat lines upon it intended to :go in the direction of the axis ofthe roller'A will (lice parallel to the lengthway oi' the rod or bar What Izclaim as my invention, arid'desire to secure to my assignees byfLetters Patent of the- United States, is-

.'The combinationza-nd arrangement of mechanism herenbefore described, by which the movements cfa tracer canbe modified' i-n eX- tent and .changed i-.n vdirectionand transmitted to etching-instruments an'dthe roller or cylinder tov be operated upon, and I particularly claim for these purposes the use ot' 'the levers or bars e6 and'h4,and thevr bars or carriages e, e, f, and g.

In testimony thatthe' foregoing isa true ldescription of* my said' improvements I have hereunto'set my handv this`7t-h day `ot' March, A. D. 1860.

WILLIAM SHIELDS.

Witnesses:

PETER yJ LINsEY, 'W. GIFFORD.

L o L- 

